


Paying Respects

by randomcheeses



Series: Search [1]
Category: Fullmetal Alchemist
Genre: AU, Alternative Timeline, Drama, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-07-16
Updated: 2010-07-16
Packaged: 2017-10-10 14:26:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 915
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/100768
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/randomcheeses/pseuds/randomcheeses
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Al couldn't stay in the house any longer.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Paying Respects

Al hadn't been able to take it anymore. There were too many people here. Too many strangers, people he didn't know, that said they knew him. They all kept saying how sorry they were that Brother was dead.

There were a few people he recognised. Like Granny Pinako, who didn't look any different from the last time he'd seen her, and Winry, who _really _did, seeing as she was five years older than him now and looked, well, like a _girl_. There was Teacher, who was coughing a lot more now, and Sig right next to her, holding out a handkerchief. There was also Rose, who'd brought him home from Central, holding her baby and shushing it.

But that was all. Al didn't recognise any of the other people. He didn't know the big man and his son who smelt of coal and dust even though their were spotlessly clean. He didn't know the two blond haired brothers who'd said they were sorry, the older one putting an odd emphasis on the words 'for everything'. He didn't know the woman who had a smile like Mom and made him think of quiche and apple pie, or her daughter who insisted on calling him 'Big Brother Al' and made him think of photographs and shiny glasses.

All these people had kept coming up to him and hugging him or shaking his hand and saying how sorry they were. And Al couldn't bear it anymore. He couldn't bear the pitying smile, the sad look they gave him when he insisted that they weren't burying a body, that Brother was still out there somewhere.

So now here he was, halfway up a tree, half-hidden by the leaves and waiting for Winry's call of "Al? Where are you?" to fade away.

Eventually, Winry gave up and went back inside the house and Al relaxed slightly. For a few minutes there was near silence, the only noise that of the wind fluttering through the leaves.

Then a voice asked "Are you all right up there Alphonse?"

Al blinked in surprise and looked down. Standing below him, was yet another person he didn't recognise. A man with jet black hair and an eye-patch, dressed in the royal blue uniform of Amestris' military. Al surveyed the man carefully. There were more than a few military people here today, but then, that wasn't surprising. Winry had explained that Brother had become a State Alchemist so that they could get their bodies back. Al wondered how this soldier had known them.

"Alphonse?" the man asked again, "are you all right?"

Al started, realising that he'd been staring silently for over a minute. "I um-" he said guiltily, embarrassed at being caught evading guests, "I just needed some air."

The man smiled and nodded. "Me too," he said. "It's a bit hectic in there." Then murmured, half to himself, "I never quite realised just how many people you two met on your travels."

"Um, sir?" Al paused, unsure if he wanted to interrupt the man's reminiscence. "If you don't mind me asking, who are you?"

For a second Al saw a brief flash of _pain-hurt-something_ in the man's remaining eye and then he smiled again. "Ah, of course, your amnesia. Brigadier-General Mustang," he said, holding up his hand. Al leaned forward on his branch and shook it carefully. "I was your brother's commanding officer."

"Oh." Al frowned. Part of the sentence hadn't seemed right for some reason. He tilted his head and looked at the soldier again. Something in the back of mind whispered _Colonel. He should only be a Colonel._ But Al didn't say so aloud. He didn't want to insult the man. Instead he said "I understand why some military people came, sir. After all, Brother was part of the military. But all these other people, how did he know them all so well?

"I don't think he did," the Brigadier-General answered. " But Edward, he was, he _is_ . . . memorable. Your brother touched a lot of people's lives. God knows he certainly changed mine, the short tempered, foul mouthed little brat," the General added in a fond tone of voice.

Al grinned despite himself. That certainly sounded like Brother.

"All of these people had their lives changed for the better by you and your brother," the General continued. "They're just paying their respects."

At this, Al swallowed and then said what he'd been saying all day. "Brother isn't dead. He's still out there somewhere. He will come home." Then he waited for the response that he'd been getting all day, the pitying smile, the sad look. But it didn't come.

Instead the Brigadier General looked at him thoughtfully. "Alphonse," he said slowly, "how sure of that are you?"

"One hundred per cent," Al said back. And he was. He had no idea how to explain it, but he knew Ed was alive. The sky was blue, the grass was green, Ed was alive. "I'm going to go look for him as soon as I can," he announced as he started to climb back down the tree.

Al's grip slipped on the bark and the General caught him under the arms, placing the young alchemist back on the ground. "Alphonse?" the General asked, his lips curled in a half-smirk. "When you find your brother, remind him he still owes me a report, will you?"

Al grinned, highly relieved to find someone else who hadn't given up on Brother and duly gave the General his word.


End file.
